Systems and methods for a merchant payment card marketing laboratory

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, a system is configured to receive a market analysis request regarding customers having a partnership card account associated with a financial service provider and a merchant. The system may determine one or more online behavior characteristics of the customers and access data associated with financial transactions of the customers from the financial service provider. The system may further determine analysis results responsive to the received market analysis request based on at least the determined one or more online behavior characteristics and the accessed financial transactions of the customers. The system may further generate a report indicating at least the determined analysis results.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/846,109, filed on Jul. 15, 2013, which isexpressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Financial service providers, such as credit card companies, banks, andthe like, issue financial service products (e.g., credit cards) bothunder their own brands and in partnership with other entities, such asproduct manufacturers or retailers (e.g., partnered financial serviceaccounts such as private label credit cards). Merchants, such asretailers, have typically used these partnered financial serviceaccounts to provide a direct marketing connection with their customersand track customer store purchases over time. Despite spendingtremendous amounts of money and effort to market their products toconsumers, merchants have a very poor understanding of “what works” and“what doesn't work.” Moreover, merchants cannot fully understand aparticular customer's purchase motivations because they have little orno insight into how that customer behaves beyond the customer's purchasehistory using the partnered financial service accounts associated withthe merchant. This is true at least because merchants typically lack thedirect customer access and observational opportunities associated withpowerful customer information like the customer's financial situation,personal interests, as well as real-time information such as currentlocation.

There is therefore a need to address these and other issues faced bymerchants (and similarly situated entities) who seek to gain a moredeveloped understanding of their marketing efforts influence on theircustomer's purchases.

SUMMARY

Disclosed embodiments include methods, systems, and computer-readablemedia configured to, for example, provide a merchant testing laboratoryfor testing marketing efforts of a merchant on a subset of its entirecustomer base. The disclosed embodiments may be configured to providemerchants or other entities the ability to perform marketing tests ontheir partnership/loyalty card customers and link those customer'sresponses in substantially real-time to key factors such as creditscore, income, websites viewed, neighborhood, and the relevant marketingchannel. For example, customized marketing campaigns/communications maybe sent to a subset of a merchant's customer base (i.e., its partnershipcard customers) and the responses to those marketing communications maybe monitored and analyzed by the provider of the testing laboratory(such as the financial service provider associated with the merchantpartnership card) using factors not typically available to the merchant.The testing laboratory provider may then provide the results of themarketing campaign tests to the merchants with insights into whatdemographic groups responded most positively to which marketingcampaigns. The merchant may subsequently use the results of themarketing campaign to, for example, launch targeting marketing campaignswithin its larger consumer base.

In one aspect, the disclosed embodiments include a method for providinga merchant testing laboratory. The method may include receiving a marketanalysis request for customers having a partnership card accountassociated with a financial service provider and a merchant. The methodmay also include determining, using at least one processor, one or moreonline behavior characteristics of the customers and accessing dataassociated with financial transactions of the customers from thefinancial service provider. The method may further include determining,using the at least one processor, analysis results responsive to thereceived market analysis request based on at least the determined one ormore online behavior characteristics and the accessed financialtransactions of the customers, and generating, using the at least oneprocessor, a report indicating at least the determined analysis results.

The disclosed embodiments may also include a device for providing amerchant testing laboratory. The device may include a memory storingsoftware instructions, the software instructions including anapplication configured to perform marketing analysis processes. Thedevice may also include one or more processors configured to execute thesoftware instructions to receive a market analysis request for customershaving a partnership card account associated with a financial serviceprovider and a merchant. The one or more processors may be furtherconfigured to determine one or more online behavior characteristics ofthe customers and access data associated with financial transactions ofthe customers from the financial service provider. The one or moreprocessors may also be configured to determine analysis resultsresponsive to the received market analysis request based on at least thedetermined one or more online behavior characteristics and the accessedfinancial transactions of the customers. Finally, the one or moreprocessors may be configured to generate a report indicating at leastthe determined analysis results.

The disclosed embodiments include systems that perform operationsconsistent with the functionalities exemplified above from theperspective of a financial service provider system, manufacturer system,consumer mobile device, or other third-party systems distinct from thefinancial service provider, merchant, and consumer.

Aspects of the disclosed embodiments may include tangiblecomputer-readable media that stores software instructions that, whenexecuted by one or more processors, are configured to and capable ofperforming and executing one or more of the methods, operations, and thelike consistent with the disclosed embodiments. Also, aspects of thedisclosed embodiments may be performed by one or more processors thatare configured as special-purpose processor(s) based on softwareinstructions that are programmed with logic and instructions thatperform, when executed, one or more operations consistent with thedisclosed embodiments.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the disclosed embodiments, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate disclosed embodiments and,together with the description, serve to explain the disclosedembodiments. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system, consistent withdisclosed embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of another exemplary system, consistent withdisclosed embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an exemplary consumer information collectionprocess, consistent with disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an exemplary merchant testing laboratoryprocess, consistent with disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an exemplary merchant analysis requestprocess, consistent with disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an exemplary interface displaying a merchantmarketing message, consistent with disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an exemplary interface displaying a merchanttesting laboratory, consistent with disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of exemplary consumer information, consistent withdisclosed embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a diagram of an exemplary data structure for storinginformation associated with a merchant testing laboratory, consistentwith disclosed embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the disclosed embodiments,examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whereverconvenient, the same reference numbers will be used throughout thedrawings to refer to the same or like parts.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system 100 for performing oneor more operations consistent with the disclosed embodiments, in oneembodiment, system 100 may include one or more financial serviceproviders 110, one or more merchants 120, one or more clients 130, andnetwork 140. The components and arrangement of the components includedin system 100 may vary. Thus, system 100 may include other componentsthat perform or assist in the performance of one or more processesconsistent with the disclosed embodiments.

Components of system 100 may be computing systems configured to providea merchant payment card marketing laboratory, consistent with disclosedembodiments. As further described herein, components of system 100 mayinclude one or more computing devices (e.g., computer(s), server(s),etc.), memory storing data and/or software instructions (e.g.,database(s), memory devices, etc.), and other known computingcomponents. In some embodiments, the one or more computing devices maybe configured to execute software instructions stored on one or morememory devices to perform one or more operations consistent with thedisclosed embodiments. Components of system 100 may be configured tocommunicate with one or more other components of system 100, includingsystems associated with financial service provider 110, merchant 120,and/or client 130. In certain aspects, users may operate one or morecomponents of system 100 to initiate and provide input for one or moreoperations consistent with the disclosed embodiments.

Financial service provider 110 may be an entity that provides,maintains, manages, or otherwise offers financial services. For example,financial service provider 110 may be a bank, credit card issuer, or anyother type of financial service entity that generates, provides,manages, and/or maintains financial service accounts for one or moreusers. Financial service accounts may include, for example, credit cardaccounts, loan accounts, checking accounts, savings accounts, reward orloyalty program accounts, and/or any other type of financial serviceaccount known to those skilled in the art. Financial service providersystem 110 may include infrastructure and components that are configuredto generate and/or provide financial service accounts such as creditcard accounts, checking accounts, debit card accounts, loyalty or rewardprograms, lines of credit, and the like. Consistent with certaindisclosed embodiments, financial service provider 110, using financialservice provider system 112, may provide manufacturer-based financialservice accounts, which may be financial service accounts that areassociated with a manufacturer of products or services, such as aproduct manufacturer 120. For example, financial service provider 110may provide financial services for a credit card account that is brandedby an entity, such as a private label credit card branded by a productmanufacturer.

Financial service provider 110 may include one or more financial serviceprovider systems 112. In one aspect, financial service provider system112 may be one or more computing devices configured to perform one ormore operations consistent with disclosed embodiments. In one aspect,financial service provider system 112 may be a desktop computer, aserver, or any other type of computing device. Financial serviceprovider system 112 may include one or more processors configured toexecute software instructions stored in memory. The one or moreprocessors may be configured to execute software instructions that whenexecuted by a processor performs known Internet-related communicationand financial service-based processes. For instance, financial serviceprovider system 112 may execute software that provides data used forgenerating and displaying interfaces, including content on a displaydevice included in, or connected to, client 130. In some embodiments,financial service provider 110 may provide one or more web sites oronline portals that are accessible by client 130 and/or merchant 120over network 140. The disclosed embodiments are not limited to anyparticular configuration of financial service provider system 112.

Financial service provider 110 may include one or more testinglaboratories 114. In one aspect, testing laboratories 114 may be one ormore computing devices configured to perform one or more operationsconsistent with disclosed embodiments. For example, testing laboratories114 may be a desktop computer, a server, or any other type of computingdevice. Testing laboratories 114 may include one or more processorsconfigured to execute software instructions stored in memory. The one ormore processors may be configured to execute software instructions thatwhen executed by the one or more processors perform knownInternet-related communication, database management, financialservice-based processes, and/or marketing campaign functions. Forinstance, testing laboratories 114 may execute software that providesdata used for generating and displaying interfaces, including content ona display device included in, or connected to, client 130 or merchantsystem 122. The disclosed embodiments are not limited to any particularconfiguration of testing laboratories 114.

Merchant 120 may be an entity that offers goods, services, and/orinformation, such as a retailer (e.g., Macy's®, Target®, etc.), grocerystore, service provider (e.g., utility company, etc.), or any other typeof entity that offers goods, services, and/or information that consumers(e.g., end-users or other business entities, such as user 152) maypurchase, consume, use, etc. Merchant 120 may offer for sale one or moreproducts of product manufacturer 120. In one example, merchant 120 maybe associated with merchant brick and mortar location(s) that a consumer(e.g., a user of client 130) may physically visit and purchase a productor service. Merchant 120 may also include back- and/or front-endcomputing components that store data and execute software instructionsto perform operations consistent with disclosed embodiments, such ascomputers that are operated by employees of the merchant (e.g., backoffice systems, etc.).

Merchant 120 may include merchant system 122 and one or morePoint-of-Sale (POS) systems 144. Merchant system 122 may include one ormore computing systems, such as server(s), desktop computers, etc., thatare configured to execute stored software instructions to performoperations associated with a merchant, including one or more processesassociated with processing purchase transactions, generating transactiondata, generating product data (e.g., SKU data) relating to purchasetransactions, etc. Merchant system 122 may perform one or moreoperations consistent with the disclosed embodiments. The disclosedembodiments are not limited to any particular configuration of merchantsystem 122.

Client 130 may be one or more computing devices configured to performone or more operations consistent with disclosed embodiments. Client 130may be a desktop computer, a laptop, a server, a mobile device (e.g.,tablet, smart phone, etc.), or any other type of computing device. Forexemplary purposes, aspects of the disclosed embodiments are describedwith reference to client 130 as a mobile client device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or the like. As mentioned herein, however, the disclosedembodiments are not limited to such examples.

Client 130 may include one or more processors configured to executesoftware instructions stored in memory, such as memory included inclient 130. Client 130 may include software that when executed by aprocessor performs known Internet-related communication, content displayprocesses, and financial service-related processes for a user of client130. For instance, client 130 may execute browser or related mobiledisplay software that generates and displays interfaces includingcontent on a display device included in, or in communication with,client 130. Client 130 may be a mobile device that executes mobiledevice applications and/or mobile device communication software thatallows client 130 to communicate with components over network 140, andgenerates and displays content in interfaces via a display deviceincluded in client 130. The disclosed embodiments are not limited to anyparticular configuration of client 130. For instance, client 130 may bea mobile device that stores and executes mobile applications thatprovide financial service-related functions offered by financial serviceprovider system 112 and/or product manufacturer system 122, such as amobile banking application associated with a private label financialservice account for checking balances, paying bills, performingfinancial transactions, receiving marketing messages, etc. In certainembodiments, client 130 may be configured to execute softwareinstructions relating to location services, such as GPS locations. Forexample, client 130 may be configured to determine a geographic locationof client 130 (and associated user) and provide location data and timestamp data corresponding to the location data.

In one embodiment, merchant 120 may interface with testing laboratory114 (via, e.g., merchant system 122) to perform one or more operationsconsistent with the disclosed embodiments. In one aspect, merchant 120may operate or otherwise communicate with testing laboratory 114 via awebsite, API resource, etc. For instance, financial service provider 110may maintain a merchant marketing testing account for merchant 120 thatthe merchant may use to perform market testing according to disclosedembodiments. In other embodiments, the merchant may be a potentialcustomer of financial service provider 110 (such as, e.g., a partner toa private label financial service account offering to consumers) or maynot be affiliated with such a financial service provider from themerchant's perspective and/or the financial service provider'sperspective.

Network 140 may be any type of network configured to providecommunications between components of system 100. For example, network140 may be any type of network (including infrastructure) that providescommunications, exchanges information, and/or facilitates the exchangeof information, such as the Internet, a Local Area Network, NFC, Opticalcode scanner, or other suitable connection(s) that enables the sendingand receiving of information between the components of system 100. Inother embodiments, one or more components of system 100 may communicatedirectly through a dedicated communication link(s), such as linksbetween financial service provider 110, merchant 120, and client 130.

It is to be understood that the configuration and boundaries of thefunctional building blocks of system 100 have been arbitrarily definedherein for the convenience of the description. Alternative boundariescan be defined so long as the specified functions and relationshipsthereof are appropriately performed. Alternatives (includingequivalents, extensions, variations, deviations, etc., of thosedescribed herein) will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) based on the teachings contained herein. For example, financialservice provider system 112 and product merchant system 122 mayconstitute a part of components of system 100 other than thosespecifically described, or may constitute a part of multiple componentsof system 100 (i.e., a distributed system). Moreover, testing laboratory114 may be separate and distinct from financial service provider 110 andbe operated by, for example, a third-party having access to customerspecific information. For example, in one aspect, testing laboratory 114may be operated by a marketing agency who has partnered with parties(such as financial service providers, merchants, social networks, etc.)having access to data reflecting particular persons' financialsituation, purchase transaction data, personal interests, maritalstatus, etc. Such alternatives fall within the scope and spirit of thedisclosed embodiments.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary system 200 consistent with disclosedembodiments. Variations of exemplary system 200 may be used by financialservice provider 110, merchant 120, and/or client 130. In oneembodiment, system 200 may comprise one or more processors 221, one ormore input/output (I/O) devices 222, and one or more memories 223. Insome embodiments, system 200 may take the form of a server, generalpurpose computer, mainframe computer, or any combination of thesecomponents. In some embodiments, system 200 may take the form of amobile computing device such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop computer,or any combination of these components. Alternatively, system 200 may beconfigured as a particular apparatus, embedded system, dedicatedcircuit, and the like based on the storage, execution, and/orimplementation of the software instructions that perform one or moreoperations consistent with the disclosed embodiments.

Processor 221 may include one or more known processing devices, such asmobile device microprocessors or any various other processors. Thedisclosed embodiments are not limited to any type of processor(s)configured in system 200.

Memory 223 may include one or more storage devices configured to storeinstructions used by processor 221 to perform functions related todisclosed embodiments. For example, memory 223 may be configured withone or more software instructions, such as program(s) 224 that mayperform one or more operations when executed by processor 221. Thedisclosed embodiments are not limited to separate programs or computersconfigured to perform dedicated tasks. For example, memory 223 mayinclude a single program 224 that performs the functions of the client130, or program 224 may comprise multiple programs. Memory 223 may alsostore data 225 that is used by one or more programs 312.

In certain embodiments, memory 223 may store a payment card marketinglaboratory software that may be executed by processor(s) 221 to performone or more marketing communication and/or analysis processes consistentwith disclosed embodiments. For example, the payment card marketinglaboratory software may be run by a financial service provider system112 or another system associated with a financial service provider 110that has partnered with merchant 120 to provide a private labelfinancial account held by a consumer.

I/O devices 222 may be one or more devices configured to allow data tobe received and/or transmitted by system 200. I/O devices 222 mayinclude one or more digital and/or analog devices that allow system 200to communicate with other machines and devices, such as other componentsof system 100. For example, I/O devices 222 may include a screen fordisplaying marketing messages, financing options, or providing otherinformation to the user, such as a consumer of merchant 120. In otherembodiments, I/O devices 222 may include a screen for displaying aninterface of testing laboratory 114 to merchant 120. I/O devices 222 mayalso include one or more digital and/or analog devices that allow a userto interact with system 200 such as a touch-sensitive area, keyboard,buttons, or microphones. I/O devices 304 may also include othercomponents known in the art for interacting with a user.

The components of system 200 may be implemented in hardware, software,or a combination of both hardware and software, as will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. For example, although one or more componentsof system 200 may be implemented as computer processing instructions,all or a portion of the functionality of system 200 may be implementedinstead in dedicated electronics hardware.

System 200 may also be communicatively connected to one or moredatabase(s) 227. System 200 may be communicatively connected todatabase(s) 227 through network 140. Database 227 may include one ormore memory devices that store information and are accessed and/ormanaged through system 200. By way of example, database(s) 227 mayinclude Oracle™ databases, Sybase™ databases, or other relationaldatabases or non-relational databases, such as Hadoop sequence files,HBase, or Cassandra. The databases or other files may include, forexample, data and information related to the financial records, purchasetransaction data, consumer demographics information, etc. Systems andmethods of disclosed embodiments, however, are not limited to separatedatabases. In one aspect, system 200 may include database 227.Alternatively, database 227 may be located remotely from the system 200.Database 227 may include computing components (e.g., database managementsystem, database server, etc.) configured to receive and processrequests for data stored in memory devices of database(s) 227 and toprovide data from database 227.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an exemplary consumer information collectionprocess 300, consistent with disclosed embodiments. According to someembodiments, collected information regarding a customer's onlineactivity including internet searches, web pages visited, advertisingclicks, social media activity, media viewing consumption, onlinebehavior, and the like may be used by, for example, testing laboratory114 to identify customer preferences and other contextual informationuseful for analyzing merchant marketing efforts.

In step 310, financial service provider system 112 may receive acustomer login request (via, e.g., client 130) to log into an account ofthe customer. For example, the customer may request online access to apartnered financial service account associated with financial serviceprovider 110 and merchant 120. Financial service provider system 112 mayauthorize access of the customer based on the login credentialspresented (step 320) using any variety of online account accessverification procedures known in the art. At step 330, financial serviceprovider system 112 may determine whether a cookie (commonly referred toas an HTTP cookie, web cookie, browser cookie, and the like) associatedwith financial service provider 110 is present on client device 130.

If a cookie is not detected on client device 130 (step 330; NO),financial service provider system 112 may transmit a cookie to clientdevice 130 (step 370). According to some embodiments, the transmittedcookie may include a tracking number or other identification methodallowing financial service provider system 112 to uniquely recognize thetransmitted cookie. Financial service provider system 112 may alsoassociate the transmitted cookie with the customer by, for example,associating the cookie tracking number with the customer's accessedpartnered financial service account (step 380). The transmitted cookiemay compile a record of the customer's online activity following itsstorage on client 130 (step 390), including internet searches, web pagesvisited, advertising clicks, social media activity (Facebook™ “likes,”Twitter™ followings, etc.), media viewing consumption (observed videos,online news articles, etc.) online behavior (amount of time spentonline, types of activities engaged, etc.), and the like. The record ofthe customer's online activity may be stored, for example, in thetransmitted cookie on client device 130 (step 395). Additionally oralternatively, partners of financial service provider 100 (including,for example, merchant 120 associated with the partnered financialservice account of the customer) may store cookies on client 130 whenthe customer visits a website associated with merchant 120.

If a cookie associated with financial service provider 110 (or partnerof financial service provider 110) is detected on client device 130(step 330; YES), financial service provider 112 may request or otherwisereceive the cookie and data associated with the cookie indicating theconsumer's online activity (step 340). Additionally or alternatively,financial service provider system 112 may receive cookie data from oneor more partners of financial service provider 100 (including, forexample, merchant 120 associated with the partnered financial serviceaccount of the customer) that the partner(s) retrieved from client 130when the customer visited a website associated with merchant 120. Instep 350, financial service provider system 112 may store the cookiedata in a memory device (such as, for example, database 227) (step 350).Financial service provider system 112 may also associate the cookie datawith the consumer by, for example, associating the stored cookie datawith the consumer's partnered financial service account information(step 360).

In alternative embodiments, data reflecting the customer's onlineactivity may be periodically requested or otherwise provided tofinancial service account provider system 112 without the customerlogging into the customer's partnered financial service account.

One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that any method oftracking online activity may be implemented by the disclosed embodimentsto identify customers' online behavior. For example, trackingtechnologies that do not rely on HTTP cookies may be implemented bydisclosed embodiments, such as so-called “supercookies.”

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary merchant testing laboratory process 400,consistent with disclosed embodiments. According to some embodiments, amerchant who has partnered with financial service provider 110 toprovide its customers with partnered financial service account may haveaccess to testing laboratory 114. For example, merchant 130 may have alaboratory testing account allowing a user associated with merchant 130to access functions associated with testing laboratory 114, includingmechanisms for communicating with its customers with partnered financialservice account, initiating marketing campaign tests among its customerswith partnered financial service account, and/or accessing a measurementplatform of testing laboratory 114 capable of analyzing responses tomarketing campaign tests, demographic information, customer onlineactivity data, customer financial transaction data, etc.

At step 405, testing laboratory 114 may receive a login request frommerchant 120 (via, e.g., merchant system 122). Upon a successful login,testing laboratory 144 may provide an interface to merchant 120displayed by merchant system 122 that includes, for example, graphicalimages of available testing laboratory 114 services associated with themerchant 120 account. An exemplary interface associated with testinglaboratory 114 is shown at FIG. 7. Testing laboratory interface 710 mayinclude area 715 for a mechanism for communication with customers with apartnered financial service account. According to some embodiments,merchant 120 may send a communication to a subset or all customershaving a partnered financial service account via, among other means,postal mail, short messaging service (SMS), text message, e-mail, or anapp associated with partnered financial service account, financialservice provider 110, and/or merchant 130. Area 715 may further includeallow merchant 130 to customize message content, including particulardiscount offers, store updates, or other information. Interface 710 mayfurther include area 720 for initiating a marketing test. For example,merchant 130 may identify the type of marketing offer (percentagediscount, money discount, “2 for 1” deal, etc.), the customer base (aged18-25, credit scores above 750, wealthy, online shoppers, etc.).

Consistent with disclosed embodiments, merchant 130 may use area 715 toinitiate a test marketing campaign among its customers with a partneredfinancial service account to determine which demographic group respondsmost positively to a particular channel of advertising. Merchant 130 maythen, in turn, use the information learned from the market test toimprove its marketing strategy towards its entire customer base.Interface 710 may include area 730 for requesting a testing laboratoryanalysis. For example, merchant 130 may request the analysis resultsassociated with a particular marketing test previously requested througharea 720. Merchant 130 may also request marketing analysis based oncollected data associated with customers of merchant 130, such asresponses to marketing communications, demographic information, customeronline activity data, customer purchase transaction data, etc. Accordingto some embodiments, merchant 130 may request, via area 730, a list ofthe top three stores most frequently visited by the customer other thanmerchant 130, the most effective marketing channel (e-mail, print ads,etc.) for male customers over the age of fifty, and the like.

One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that any method ofproviding interface 710 may be implemented by the disclosed embodimentsto identify customers' online behavior. For example, interface 710 maybe provided by testing laboratory 114 via a website, API reference, orany other online resource suitable for exchanging information.

Returning to FIG. 4, at step 410, testing laboratory 114 may receive ananalysis request from merchant 130. For example, merchant 130 mayrequest a report regarding how customers over a particular age (e.g.,customers over thirty years of age) respond to one or more discountoffer types (e.g., percentage discount, monetary discount, “2 for 1”deals, etc.), which demographic segment responds most positively topostal mail advertisements, and the like. In another example, merchant130 may request a report regarding the impact of a certain number ofprior marketing campaigns according to specific customer segments. Inyet another example, merchant 130 may have excess newspaper insertsmarketing offers and request a report indicating which market segmenthas best responded to newspaper inserts in the past. In yet anotherexample, merchant 130 may request a report showing where the merchant'scustomers shop most often outside of merchant 130. At step 415, testinglaboratory 114 may determine whether the received analysis request maybe fulfilled based on existing customer data accessible to testinglaboratory 114. For example, if testing laboratory 114 receives ananalysis request to determine which market segments is most responsiveto as yet unsent 10% off discount offer for a particular hair careproduct, the request cannot be fulfilled based on existing customerdata. In another example, the analysis request may involve sending adiscount offer to customers through three different advertising channelsin order to observe which advertising channel will result in the mostacceptances of the offer. On the other hand, if the testing laboratory114 receives an analysis request for the average account balance of itscustomers for a particular time range (e.g., the years 2008-2012), sucha request may be fulfilled based on existing customer data accessible totesting laboratory 114. If testing laboratory 114 determines thatadditional customer data is required to respond to the analysis request(step 415; YES), testing laboratory 114 may send a communication tocustomers (step 420). For example, continuing the above example, testinglaboratory 114 may send a discount offer of 10% off a particular haircare product to all partnership card customers.

At step 430, testing laboratory 114 may observe or otherwise collectinformation regarding the customer responses and behavior in response tothe communication. For example, testing laboratory 114 may receive anindication that the customer has accepted the discount offer bypurchasing the product, for example, by facilitating the purchasethrough an in-app purchase, accessing purchase transaction recordsindicating the customer purchased the product, receiving a communicationfrom merchant 110 that a customer has used the discount offer, or thelike. In some aspects, other information, such as the customer's onlineactivity after receipt of the discount offer, may be consideredresponsive to a marketing offer. For example, testing laboratory 114 maydetermine based on cookie information (see FIG. 3; steps 340-360) andpurchase transaction information associated with the customers stored inmemory associated with financial service provider 110 that, after thereceipt of the discount offer from testing laboratory 114, the customerconducted internet searches for related products and/or purchased thesame or a similar product from another merchant.

At step 440, testing laboratory 114 may store the data associated withobserved customer responses and behavior in memory (such as, e.g.,database(s) 227). According to some embodiments, testing laboratory 114may also request or otherwise receive purchase transaction data andother financial records associated with customers having a partnershipcard account from financial service provider system 112. In otherembodiments, testing laboratory 114 may have direct access to memory offinancial service provider system 112 storing purchase transaction dataand other financial records of the customers having a partnership cardaccount. A non-limiting example of a data structure for storing customerinformation testing laboratory 114 is shown in FIG. 9.

Testing laboratory 114 may generate a report reflecting the requestedanalysis results (step 450). According to some embodiments, therequested analysis reports may be generated in real-time orsubstantially real-time. For example, testing laboratory 114 maydetermine that a majority of customers who responded to a recent V-neckshirt marketing communication shared a common characteristic, such asbeing a student. In another example, testing laboratory 114 maydetermine that a particular customer group spends at least 5% of theirmonthly net income on fine dining. In yet another example, testinglaboratory 114 may determine that a 15% offer resulted in more offeracceptances among wealthy clients but a “2 for 1” offer on the sameproduct resulted in more offer acceptances from customers making lessthan $45,000 annually.

Testing laboratory may generate the report reflecting the requestedanalysis results based on various sources of information, including atleast financial data stored by financial service provider 110 associatedwith partnership card customers (including financial accounts of thecustomer other than the partnership card account), cookie informationreflecting the online actions of the customer (see FIG. 3; steps340-360), data associated with the customers received from merchant 130,data associated with the customers received from third-parties, customercommunications associated with marketing efforts of merchant 110,demographic information, etc. A non-exhaustive list of factors and datathat testing laboratory 114 may incorporate in generating the analysisreport is depicted in FIG. 8. Finally, at step 460, testing laboratory114 may provide the analysis results to merchant 130.

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary merchant analysis request process 500,consistent with disclosed embodiments. At step 505, merchant 130 mayenter testing laboratory 114 via an appropriate interface (via, e.g., awebsite or API resource login or the like.). An exemplary interfaceassociated with testing laboratory 114 is shown at FIG. 7 and discussedabove. At step 510, testing laboratory 114 may receive criteria frommerchant 130 for a merchant communication and/or marketing offer to sendto some or all of partnered financial service account customers (step510). For example, merchant 130 may send customize message content,particular discount offers, store updates, or other information topartnered financial service account customers, including subsets ofthose customers according to various distinguishing criteria discussedabove. Testing laboratory 114 may further send the customize messagecontent, particular discount offers, store updates, or other informationto the specified customers via a variety of communication mechanismknown to those of skill in the art including, for example, e-mail, SMSmessaging, in-app communication, telephone message, postal mail, etc.).At step 525, testing laboratory 114 may receive or otherwise observe theconduct one or more of the customers. For example, testing laboratory114 may determine or otherwise receive information indicating that usersresponded positively to the offer/communication of step 520 by, forexample, determining via transaction data stored by financial serviceprovider 110 and associated with the customer reflects the customerpurchased the merchant product relevant to the offer/communication,“liked” the merchant and/or merchant product on a social media site,clicked on a purchasing link associated with the communication/offer, orthe like. At step 530, testing laboratory 114 may store or secure accessto data associated with customers' responses to the communication/offeras discussed in connection with FIG. 9. Testing laboratory 114 mayfurther generate the requested analysis (step 535) and provide thegenerated analysis to merchant 130 (step 540) in a manner similar tosteps 450 and 460, discussed above. Finally, merchant 130 may apply abetter understand of the marketing efforts indicated in the providedanalysis to a larger customer base, including customers who are notusing partnered financial service accounts.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an exemplary client 600 including an interfacedisplaying marketing messages consistent with disclosed embodiments. Forexample, client 600 may include an interface (via, e.g., an appassociated with financial service provider 110) that includes agraphical image identifying, for example, the provider of the customer'sfinancial accounts (area 610), a listing of the customer's accounts withthe financial service provider (area 620), and an area to select andaccess features associated with a particular customer account (area630). Client 610 may also include a message viewing area 640.

The foregoing description has been presented for purposes ofillustration. It is not exhaustive and is not limited to the preciseforms or embodiments disclosed. Modifications and adaptations of theembodiments will be apparent from consideration of the specification andpractice of the disclosed embodiments. For example, the describedimplementations include hardware and software, but systems and methodsconsistent with the present disclosure can be implemented as hardwarealone. Furthermore, although aspects of the disclosed embodiments aredescribed as being associated with data stored in memory and othertangible computer-readable storage mediums, one skilled in the art willappreciate that these aspects can also be stored on and executed frommany types of tangible computer-readable media, such as secondarystorage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks, or CD-ROM, or otherforms of RAM or ROM.

Computer programs based on the written description and methods of thisspecification are within the skill of a software developer. The variousprograms or program modules can be created using a variety ofprogramming techniques. For example, program sections or program modulescan be designed in or by means of Java, C, C++, assembly language, orany such programming languages. One or more of such software sections ormodules can be integrated into a computer system, computer-readablemedia, or existing communications software.

Moreover, while illustrative embodiments have been described herein, thescope includes any and all embodiments having equivalent elements,modifications, omissions, combinations (e.g., of aspects across variousembodiments), adaptations or alterations based on the presentdisclosure. The elements in the claims are to be interpreted broadlybased on the language employed in the claims and not limited to examplesdescribed in the present specification or during the prosecution of theapplication, which examples are to be construed as non-exclusive.Further, the steps of the disclosed methods can be modified in anymanner, including by reordering steps or inserting or deleting steps. Itis intended, therefore, that the specification and examples beconsidered as example only, with a true scope and spirit being indicatedby the following claims and their full scope of equivalents.

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising; receiving a marketanalysis request associated with customers having a partnership cardaccount associated with a financial service provider and a merchant;determining, by at least one processor, one or more online behaviorcharacteristics of the customers; accessing data associated withfinancial transactions of the customers from the financial serviceprovider; determining, by the at least one processor, analysis resultsresponsive to the received market analysis request based on at least thedetermined one or more online behavior characteristics and the accessedfinancial transactions of the customers; and generating, by the at leastone processor, a report indicating at least the determined analysisresults.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, tothe customers having a partnership card account associated with thefinancial service provider and the merchant, at least one marketingmessage based on criteria associated with the market analysis request;identifying online behavior and purchase transactions of the customersoccurring in response to receiving the at least one marketing message;and determining the analysis results responsive to the received marketanalysis request based on at least the identified online behavior andpurchase transactions.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying thepurchase transactions includes at least determination that a purchasewas made within a specified time period for a product associated withthe at least one marketing message based on SKU data.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more online behavior characteristics aredetermined based on cookie data received from a client device associatedwith customers, the cookie data identifying at least one of customerinternet searches, web pages visited, advertising clicks, social mediaactivity, and media viewing consumption.
 5. The method of claim 2,wherein the at least one marketing message comprises one or more of apercentage discount, monetary discount, or bundling discount offers tobuy at least one product of the merchant.
 6. The method of claim 2,wherein the at least one marketing message comprises; a first marketingmessage offering a first discount via a plurality of marketing channelsfor at least one product of the merchant to a subset of customersaccording to a first criteria having a partnership card account; asecond marketing message offering a second discount via a plurality ofmarketing channels for the at least one product of the merchant to asubset of customers according to a second criteria having a partnershipcard account; and a third marketing message offering a third discountvia a plurality of marketing channels for the at least one product ofthe merchant to a subset of customers according to a third criteriahaving a partnership card account.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein theanalysis results identifies whether the first marketing message, secondmarketing message, or third marketing message resulted in the mostpurchases of the at least one product according to marketing channel,discount, and customer subset criteria.
 8. A device, comprising: amemory storing software instructions, the software instructionsincluding an application configured to perform marketing analysisprocesses, and one or more processors configured to execute the softwareinstructions to: receive a market analysis request associated withcustomers having a partnership card account associated with a financialservice provider and a merchant; determine one or more online behaviorcharacteristics of the customers; access data associated with financialtransactions of the customers from the financial service provider;determine analysis results responsive to the received market analysisrequest based on at least the determined one or more online behaviorcharacteristics and the accessed financial transactions of thecustomers; and generate a report indicating at least the determinedanalysis results.
 9. The device of claim 8, wherein the one or moreprocessors are further configured to execute the software instructionsto: transmit, to the customers having a partnership card accountassociated with the financial service provider and the merchant, atleast one marketing message based on criteria associated with the marketanalysis request; identify online behavior and purchase transactions ofthe customers occurring in response to receiving the at least onemarketing message; and determine the analysis results responsive to thereceived market analysis request based on at least the identified onlinebehavior and purchase transactions.
 10. The device of claim 9, whereinidentifying the purchase transactions includes at least determinationthat a purchase was made within a specified time period for a productassociated with the at least one marketing message based on SKU data.11. The device of claim 8, wherein the one or more online behaviorcharacteristics are determined based on cookie data received from aclient device associated with customers, the cookie data identifying atleast one of customer internet searches, web pages visited, advertisingclicks, social media activity, and media viewing consumption.
 12. Thedevice of claim 9, wherein the at least one marketing message comprisesone or more of a percentage discount, monetary discount, or bundlingdiscount offers to buy at least one product of the merchant.
 13. Thedevice of claim 9, wherein the at least one marketing message comprises:a first marketing message offering a first discount via a plurality ofmarketing channels for at least one product of the merchant to a subsetof customers according to a first criteria having a partnership cardaccount; a second marketing message offering a second discount via aplurality of marketing channels for the at least one product of themerchant to a subset of customers according to a second criteria havinga partnership card account; and a third marketing message offering athird discount via a plurality of marketing channels for the at leastone product of the merchant to a subset of customers according to athird criteria having a partnership card account.
 14. The device ofclaim 13, wherein the analysis results identifies whether the firstmarketing message, second marketing message, or third marketing messageresulted in the most purchases of the at least one product according tomarketing channel, discount, and customer subset criteria.
 15. Anon-transitory computer readable medium storing software instructionsthat, when executed by one or more processors, configures the one ormore processors to: receive a market analysis request associated withcustomers having a partnership card account associated with a financialservice provider and a merchant; determine one or more online behaviorcharacteristics of the customers; access data associated with financialtransactions of the customers from the financial service provider;determine analysis results responsive to the received market analysisrequest based on at least the determined one or more online behaviorcharacteristics and the accessed financial transactions of thecustomers; and generate a report indicating at least the determinedanalysis results.
 16. The medium of claim 15, wherein the softwareinstructions further configure the one or more processors to: transmit,to the customers having a partnership card account associated with thefinancial service provider and the merchant, at least one marketingmessage based on criteria associated with the market analysis request;identify online behavior and purchase transactions of the customersoccurring in response to receiving the at least one marketing message;and determine the analysis results responsive to the received marketanalysis request based on at least the identified online behavior andpurchase transactions.
 17. The medium of claim 16, wherein identifyingthe purchase transactions includes at least determination that apurchase was made within a specified time period for a productassociated with the at least one marketing message based on SKU data.18. The medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more online behaviorcharacteristics are determined based on cookie data received from aclient device associated with customers, the cookie data identifying atleast one of customer internet searches, web pages visited, advertisingclicks, social media activity, and media viewing consumption.
 19. Themedium of claim 16, wherein the at least one marketing messagecomprises: a first marketing message offering a first discount via aplurality of marketing channels for at least one product of the merchantto a subset of customers according to a first criteria having apartnership card account; a second marketing message offering a seconddiscount via a plurality of marketing channels for the at least oneproduct of the merchant to a subset of customers according to a secondcriteria having a partnership card account; and a third marketingmessage offering a third discount via a plurality of marketing channelsfor the at least one product of the merchant to a subset of customersaccording to a third criteria having a partnership card account.
 20. Themedium of claim 19, wherein the analysis results identifies whether thefirst marketing message, second marketing message, or third marketingmessage resulted in the most purchases of the at least one productaccording to marketing channel, discount, and customer subset criteria.